Chapter 4769: X Royalty: Rebirth (Twenty-Eight)

Shiler walked into Stark's room, and he was leaning against the bedside, looking at something, his face not as bad as before. Shiler smiled at him, sat down by the window, and then said: "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Stark said, "I figured it out long ago—it must have been the mutants themselves. Most of the weak scenes were just an act; I'm almost fully recovered."

"How did you figure it out?"

"I had suspicions earlier; remember when we discussed why the mutants were in trouble both inside and out, yet they chose to build hot springs? Charles wouldn't do something so reckless unless building the hot springs served another purpose."

Stark paused, then continued: "But the key evidence is the energy I pulled out of the engine—it absolutely was Erik shoving it in there, and I know that."

"Good thing you went down there," Shiler said, "otherwise if the local Iron Man tried to draw energy, he might notice something off."

"He couldn't have noticed," Stark said with a light snort, "Charles isn't that careless—the energy he poured into the engine was just enough to destroy a regular Iron Man's armor, and that room would surely be flooded with lava, leaving no witnesses."

"But," Stark sighed, "he doesn't even care if Iron Man dies in there—the Avengers going crazy..."

"Of course he doesn't worry," Shiler said, shaking his head, "too many people could save Iron Man, like me. I figured out it was Charles's doing long ago, so I couldn't just let Iron Man die in there. You and Strange are the same. Charles knew we'd cooperate, which is why he dared take this risky move."

"To him, it's not even that risky," Stark mused, "earlier, during my trips to and from the council, I heard plenty of rumors—mutants are formidable. The three great empires became what they are today because they've been meddling in there all along."

"This proves mutants still have political potential," Shiler said, "Professor X and Magneto are just slow to turn the corner and lack training opportunities. As long as Krakoa's situation stabilizes, progress can still continue."

"This matter should be settled," Stark declared, "Krakoa's situation will improve soon, and construction can finally be put on the agenda."

Stark was right. The volcanic eruption was entirely a strategic retreat—not only did it achieve the expected effect, but it also brought unexpected joys.

After the Avengers returned to the United States, everyone felt suffocated. They'd been through this too many times—each time they fought hard on the front lines, the U. S. government in the back would desperately drag them down.

Take this incident: even the person least inclined to think the worst could only conclude that S. H. I. E. L. D. or the U. S. government had eavesdropped on the Avengers' meeting, obtained the hot spring construction plan from them, devised this scheme, and then contacted the mutant agents hidden on Krakoa Island to carry it out.

What makes this most infuriating is that they dealt with the mutants without considering the Avengers' safety at all. Know this: Krakoa Island inherently restricts mutants; if they couldn't contain it and the volcano erupted, mutants couldn't save them, and the Avengers might even be buried on the island.

Moreover, why tamper with the water system's engine? If the volcano truly erupted, mutants would suffer heavy casualties—would the survivors spare Iron Man? More likely, they'd hunt him to the ends of the earth. Even if the Avengers survived, they couldn't protect him, for the surviving mutants would be immensely strong and furious, and no one could withstand the combined pursuit of so many Omega- and Alpha-level mutants—Iron Man would surely die.

Even as it stands now, with no casualties, mutants could never trust them again—their relationship is utterly broken. And if this got out, the Avengers' reputation would be ruined. With so many ambassadors present, this was bound to leak.

In other words, they painstakingly handled so many New York public safety cases, only to end up victims of a conspiracy that harmed them and even sought to bury them together. Who wouldn't be angry?

So the Avengers returned and caused a huge uproar, nearly tearing the roof off S. H. I. E. L. D.'s headquarters. Nick Fury barely held his ground, but he couldn't stop the enraged Iron Man.

Iron Man went straight to Washington, demanding the sanctions be repealed. Of course, the old-timers in the White House wouldn't listen—though they suspected they might be behind it, they still felt justified. Taking a risk to wipe out mutants, nearly achieving their goal, this was their most successful and rewarding conspiracy in decades; they should press the advantage, not give up, so they simply ignored Iron Man.

But Iron Man is the type who only responds to gentle handling. Originally, he might have acted out of guilt, wanting to help mutants, but Washington's attitude made him explode—he had to arm-wrestle Congress.

Iron Man doesn't like political maneuvering, but he's a big rich man with advisors and aides, and this bunch are full of bad ideas, just wanting to show off in front of their boss. Under their manipulation, Washington was turned upside down.

Besides politics, Iron Man wasn't idle either. He knew exactly where America's lifeline lay, so he directly announced a Stark Group medical research plan centered on the Krakoa flower, launching a series of new drugs, establishing his own medical foundation, and claiming to rebuild the U. S. healthcare system.

This was truly a stab to the aorta. Stark was originally a military-industrial complex, and now he wants to be a medical-industrial complex—having taken all the good things, what does America owe you?

The point is, Iron Man isn't just blowing smoke—his technology and research capabilities ensure that if he wants to study something, he will succeed. If the panacea based on the Krakoa flower is truly researched and mastered by him, other pharmaceutical companies wouldn't need to bother, nor would health insurers.

Wouldn't these pharmaceutical and health insurance companies panic? Hurry up and find out who provoked this ancestor. For so long, everyone just knew him for tinkering with his armor—how did he suddenly become enlightened?

After asking around, they found out what was going on, and thus collectively pressured Washington, setting its backside on fire.

Next came international humanitarian aid—when people heard Krakoa had suffered a magnitude 10.0 earthquake, many countries sent supplies, and civilians spontaneously donated.

This is actually quite common. Once a country suffers a major disaster, especially a sudden, intense one, many countries are willing to help—basically, those with money contribute money, those with strength contribute strength, and afterward they sign a series of aid and assistance agreements. Simply put, after the recipient resumes production, purchasers buy their agricultural or industrial products to help restore their economy.

This isn't entirely due to other countries' kindness. Mainly, every country is simultaneously a producer and a market—some specialize in production with little consumption, others in consumption with little production. But regardless, they play a role in international trade.

Foreign producers don't want their markets destroyed and want the local economy to recover quickly so they can sell goods; purchasers fear supply chain breaks and want to restore original production sites quickly, hence they aid disaster-stricken nations.

Krakoa is no different. Wakanda hopes to monopolize high-end medicine with Krakoa and believes the Krakoa flower can elevate Wakanda's medicine to the next level, so they will definitely help—because only if mutants overcome their difficulties quickly can cooperation continue. China is the same: besides medical cooperation, they value mutants' living environment, so they also extended aid.

Internationally, there are indeed objections, but the humanitarian aid justification is so solid that anyone objecting seems heartless, damaging international reputation. Especially those European old white leftists—they've been completely silenced, and other countries have little to say.

But Europeans have changed tactics. They claim the volcanic smoke laden with ash from Krakoa's eruption polluted Earth's environment, especially Europe's air quality, and thus they should be compensated—at the very least, they should hire environmental agencies to test it.

This is of course a trap, because European environmental agencies follow government orders—once they test, the result will definitely fail, and all kinds of fines and troubles will follow.

But still, the point is: Krakoa becoming a nature reserve serves the purpose that the environmental card can be played by ordinary people and mutants alike. Krakoa countered with: "A rare protected animal is suffering from earthquake and volcanic eruption," publicly soliciting donations, especially at European environmental conferences, collecting funds and leaving European environmentalists fuming.

You say they're a nature reserve, so they can't act internationally as a state; they say nature reserves can accept state aid. You say they're a state, so they should bear responsibility for Earth's environment; they say they're a rare protected animal, and humans should be responsible for them.

After years of government propaganda, Europe's atmosphere is a capital-W white left, and truly many clueless citizens believe there's a beautiful island in the Atlantic full of rare animals suffering from severe earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and they donate enthusiastically.

Even more absurd, some people took to the streets demanding Europe take responsibility for Krakoa's earthquake, claiming it was caused by human ocean exploration activities affecting the island's geology, ultimately causing abnormal volcanic activity, and thus they must pay to restore Krakoa's ecology—or else they're not environmentally friendly.

To put it simply, Charles used those continental cryptocurrencies right where it hurts. This really nauseated European politicians—truly, walking the night road too long you meet ghosts, even gorillas will play the environmental card.